It is ironic but understandable that movie and TV masculinity icon Rock Hudson should have been sued for possibly passing AIDS to his companion of two years, Marc Christian, before Hudson’s own 1985 death from that terrible disease.
In Hudson’s day, gays still were firmly in the closet, although rumors had circulated for years regarding the dashing Hudson’s off-movie set proclivities.
By the time of the suit, Hudson was dead, but the court found in favor of plaintiff Christian in the amount of $14.5 million, to be paid by the movie star’s estate. Christian had not actually been diagnosed with AIDS, but argued successfully that he should have been informed of Hudson’s medical condition. He also went after Hudson’s personal secretary, Mark Miller, for not having informed him of the situation.
Due to Hudson’s prominence in Hollywood during his long career, the AIDS menace at least became easier to discuss in public. In a manner of speaking, this case helped the disease itself to come out of the closet.
Hudson, who was born Roy Scherer and was given his stage name by an agent, had also been involved with talented San Francisco writer Armistead Maupin, who outed Hudson in that city’s paper the Chronicle.
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